This application is a National Stage application filed under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT/JP2006/302378 filed on Feb. 10, 2006 which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-049030 filed on Feb. 24, 2005, which are both hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.
1. Field
The presently disclosed subject matter relates to a lip closing tool used by an infant at the suckling stage onward or the like to practice closing the lips.
2. Background
A “pacifier” is known widely in the conventional art as a nipple-shaped elastic body that is placed in the oral cavity of an infant from the suckling stage to the weaning stage onward to satisfy the desire of the infant to suck.
The main body of the pacifier, which imitates a mother's nipple, is inserted into the mouth of the infant, thereby stimulating the lips.
A conventional pacifier helps to promote the sucking action of an infant at the suckling stage. Due to the shape of the main body, however, a conventional pacifier may be unsuitable for an infant who has passed the suckling stage and advanced to weaning baby food or normal food.
More specifically, when a pacifier taking the shape of a nipple having a comparatively large sectional diameter is inserted and held in the oral cavity, the mouth is opened comparatively widely, similar to the mouth when receiving mother's milk, thereby hindering practice in keeping the mouth closed, which is behavior desired for the next stage of food intake, language activity, and so on by a growing infant who has begun to lose his/her sucking action. Typically, an infant breathes through the nose with the lips closed. Gradually, as weaning begins, the infant begins to breathe through the mouth when taking food through the oral cavity and when learning how to talk. Depending on the environment, oral respiration may become the principal form of breathing, and therefore a learning process is desirable to form a habit of breathing through the nose.
The present applicant has proposed a pacifier for preventing this and other problems (see Patent Document 1 listed below).
In this application, a pacifier fashioned into a special nipple shape is used to promote holding of the nipple in the oral cavity, thereby enabling effective practice in consciously closing the mouth. Furthermore, by closing the mouth in this manner, the importance of encouraging nasal respiration rather than oral respiration is highlighted.
Also in this application, the part of the nipple that contacts the row of teeth is formed as a comparatively thin hollow body, and by holding a foreign object between the row of teeth for a long time, deterioration of the bite of the front teeth, leading to openbite, can be reduced.
Meanwhile, a practice tool for people who habitually breathe through their mouth, people who have an impaired immune function, and so on, to practice closing the lips tightly to form a habit of breathing through the nose is also known (see Patent Document 2 listed below).
This oral respiration prevention tool has a strip-form vestibular plate formed from a flexible material, and this vestibular plate contacts the outer surface of the occluded teeth. A thin tongue stopper piece is provided via a thin portion of the vestibular plate, and a guide piece is formed so as to project frontward from the vestibular plate.
Thus, the vestibular plate covers the outer peripheral portion of the upper and lower teeth, and therefore the opening portion of the mouth is covered, preventing oral respiration and promoting nasal respiration.
According to the fifth embodiment, for example, a construction in which the tongue stopper piece is connected by a string was disclosed.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-276186
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-190676